Arnab Goswami renames Republic

A week after Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against former Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, the latter is changing the name of his newly announced venture from ‘Republic’ to ‘Republic TV’.

The MP, in a letter addressed to to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting expressed his concerns over the venture using the word ‘Republic’. Citing the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, he took a firm stand on the usage of certain names and emblems for professional and commercial purposes. The granting of a licence to use the same will imply a breach of the act.

In a letter to Manmeet Kaur, Under Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Arnab informed about the change in the name his television channel from Republic’ to ‘Republic TV’ and sought fresh up-linking and down-linking permissions under the new name after Swamy's disagreement.

According to reports, the new channel will go live before the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections in March 2017. In the letter he said,

We would like you to kindly take the above amendment on record. We would request that all references to 'Republic' in our uplinking/downlinking applications be construed as references to 'Republic TV' forthwith.

Arnab, who joined Times Now in 2006 as a news anchor, shot to fame for his daily prime time debate on ‘The Newshour’. The show grabbed so much attention, both positive and negative, that more than 60 percent of the revenue generated on the news channel was traced back to it. With a huge fan base and a dedicated audience across the world, his prime time show, ‘Frankly Speaking with Arnab’ topped the TRP charts. Having started his career with Kolkata-based The Telegraph, Arnab had held prominent positions at NDTV as well.